In the beginning there was no glaze. There was just clay and it was good. It was soft and malleable and fun to make things with, but they never lasted. Man introduced clay to fire, clay became pottery. This was the first pit fire, and pottery became useful. There was still no glaze. Pit firing was the way to harden the clay bowls and vessels so they would retain their shape and become functional in a primitive way.

Welcome to Up in Smoke Pottery, we specialize in wheel thrown pottery finished without glazes. We utilize pit firing, saggar firing, raku techniques, and even some high temperature wood fire to achieve our results. Over the past couple years while working in our booth at fairs and festivals, we have noticed how patrons were fascinated in the pit fire process. They were unaware that pottery could be produced in a pit and without glazes. We decided to create this site not only to show off our work, but to educate and share our knowledge and experiences of what we have learned through trial and errors of doing pit fires, combined with our several years of research on the process and other ancient methods.

Just a reminder, Pit and saggared pottery is not food safe and should not be used as such, ( I know they used to in ancient times, but they had a life span of like 20 years too, DO NOT USE FOR FOOD!) Pit fired pottery and saggar fired pottery is also porous; meaning does not hold water and should not be used as a vase. Up in Smoke Pottery recommends using plastic liner in all pit fired pottery and saggar pottery pieces when using as a vase.